Well, what a load of you know whats!! Prescription charges now £7.85 per item for England whilst they are free in Wales and Scotland (and also NI I understand). I thought we were all one country, i.e. the UK, so why is England singled out to pay these charges. Luckily I am over 60 so mine are free, but if I was under 60 as many are, I would struggle to afford my 4 monthly medicines that my GP has prescribed - and these are for life, not just for a month or two until the condition goes away!

I am disgusted and have been on the government e-petition site to find there is a petition there with only 7 signatures (8 now that I've signed it) to ask for free prescriptions.

I hope NRAS is working on persuading the government to do something - at least for people with long term conditions and those that need several medications.

This really winds me up and is no good for my RA !! (just joking, I can calm down quite easily if I take my blood pressure pills that luckily are free to me)

Lynn x

7 Replies

Hi Lynn-bel, I can see why you are so angry, I am of work at the moment due to this RA, I am only receiving SSp, it has now been 8 months now since i was Diagnosed and we only have my husbands wages to support us, there is how ever a prescription prepayment card that i get which cost me 29.10 every 3 months, so that has helped me out a lot, as i have to take at least 7 sorts of meds, so you can see I am saving a lot of money, but i do agree with you that people who have to take meds for the rest of their lives and are struggling to pay their bills die to this illness should receive free prescription until they are able to return to work,

Hi, thanks for that. The e-petition is short and sweet but I also emailed my MP t ask the question. I think that even when you are working, there should be some kind of relief for long term chronic conditions and I just cant understand why it isnt uniform all thrugh the UK.

Anyway, we can try cant we?

I know about the prepayment card and I would do that if I wasnt an OAP. Myhusband has to take one med. every month but does get 3 month worth at a time so not so bad for him. I dont know how others cope.

I agree - and how often do we see on the news how the govt. and health authorities urge us to look after our health? I guess if you're rich you can be healthy - I wonder if we are going back to Dickensian times?

Well, we might have free prescriptions in Scotland, but I'd probably prefer to pay (at least using a prescription prepayment card) if it meant I was able to see a rheumatologist a bit more often than twice in 18 months, which is what we have here, or to be able to get a choice of hospitals I could go to. I think it probably is a bit "swings and roundabouts".

It does seem slightly odd though that it is so different from one country to another.

Hi - I think its the lack of uniformity that is puzzling. My consultant put me down for my next visit 9 months away but as I put in a complaint about the visit (all of 45/50 seconds after an hour and a half wait) the hospital set me up with another visit a few months from now. Normally I am on 6 months schedule or 12 months sometimes. You are probably right about swings and roundabouts and although we technically do have a choice of hospitals, there are only 2 to choose from in my area.

It's just one more hike that the govt. seems to think we can all absorb.

That was just a bit of a grumble from me, and I didn't mean to dismiss the fact that your prescription charges are going way high. It is a bit ridiculous, though if anyone is paying a lot, please check if a prepayment card would reduce it for you. You don't have to pay them 12 months upfront now either.